Rio Vista

Leading a bike ride out of Rio Vista tomorrow.  

It should be a beautiful day in the Delta.

Alabama 4

We are in Alabama & have been since Monday afternoon. It's been a great trip. We had a good time in Fort Worth with Keith. He & I rode our bikes on Friday & Saturday. We rode along the Trinity River on Friday. Though it seemed a bit narrow, it was very nice. The park is all green & peaceful. Saturday we ventured beyond the end of the trail & went to Aledo. Keith found every hill in the area. The best part was being with my son. The fact that he was trying to do me in didn't matter, since I survived. We were both tired after 54 miles. We went to Cousin's BBQ that night. We've had delicious BBQ traveling across Texas. Thursday we had dinner at a steak house across the street from the hotel. Keith's daughter, Nathalie, joined us. Great dinner. In fact, we have not had a bad meal on this trip.
We had rain before our stop in Pearl, Mississippi. Then we had rain off & on all the way here. And, it has rained every day so far. Not a lot or for very long. Yesterday while I was out riding I heard thunder & headed for the kid's coffee shop. I made it a little before the downpour. It's about to start again. In an hour it will be history.

ALABAMA 3

We are in Phoenix. Had a real nice dinner with Jeanne & Karie. Last night there was thunder & this morning there are heavy dark clouds.

On the trip over yesterday we had rain while driving through the desert. Temps most of the day in the 90's. Phoenix went over 100. After the car was parked for 30 minutes it read 111. It was reading 107 before we parked.

On the way again this morning.

Alabama 2

Great trip south. We were on the road at 0630. Just after getting on I-80 my wife tells me that the MP3 player is still at the house. So 15 minutes later we were on the road again. This time with a stop at Starbucks for a vanilla latte. We decided to come down SR 99 & have breakfast at Apple Annie's in Tulare. We pulled off of the freeway at about 1015. Had a good breakfast, fueled the car & were back on the road at about 1115. We arrived at the Yniquez home at about 1430. We had a very smooth trip, some traffic on I-210. Considering we were in the greater LA area, the traffic wasn't bad. Today we are all going to church with my sister Susan & family.

Alabama

The car is ready to pack. The tank is full. Early tomorrow we will depart, Lord willing. One long trip made up of many shorter trips. First stop is La Puente to see kids, grandkids & a son-in-law. We need to start early to beat the valley heat. A heat wave is here.

Well, the car has been bought, now we need to pay for it. We bought a used (18,750 miles) Nissan Quest. It is white & super clean. A light grey cloth interior, power doors on both sides & the rear gate. Betty has a very hard time reaching the door handles & pulling them is worse. So that power gate was very important. What we didn't get was automatic heat/air, dual control heat/air. What we saved over new with those features was about 10-12 thousand dollars. We can live nicely without them.
We went for a drive Saturday, a little over 200 miles, it rides very well.
For pictures check Betty's blog at http://anewdaywithbetty.blogspot.com/2009/03/2008-nissan-quest-s-minivan.html

We've been looking at new cars. Mini-vans, actually. What a tiring endeavor. I think it's down to a Nissan Quest. Although, I'd like to drive a Honda Odssey. We did look at some used ones, they had too many miles. Hertz does have a couple used Sienna's I'd like to look at. Then, again, maybe just fix the old Ford & go another 100,000 miles.

Anniversary Travels #1

Well, it's time to hit the road again. We're heading to Pacific Grove for the weekend in celebration of our 28th anniversary. Weather is looking like we'll have some rain. It's raining here too so we might as well go & have fun. More later.

The Trip South

About 0530, August 29 we were on the road south. We had a very nice, uneventful trip down I-5 to La Puente. Checking the mileage after we got home, this part, before the the 'Ridge', was our best mileage. Cruise was set at 65 & the road is basically flat with a few rolling hills. Our average for the entire trip was just under 27 mpg. I think this is very good for a Taurus wagon with 95,000 miles. Our worst was the trip to San Diego. When traffic allowed, the cruise was on at 65 on the freeways. We stopped at the Apricot Tree Restaurant to eat. We're not stopping again. We arrived in La Puente early afternoon. Next trip down we will take I-210 again but stay on it & exit at Irwindale Ave which becomes Sunset Ave. We left this way & it was easier than all the freeway interchanges getting to Joyce's.
We had dinner with all of our SoCal girls & George at a local Japanese restaurant. Good food.
We stayed at Joyce's house in Geraldine's bed so Geraldine went to Aunt Wendi's.
Saturday, about 1020 we left for San Diego. Miserable trip in 'rush hour' traffic most of the way until we crossed the San Diego county line. Very nice service for Mary Jo & a good visit with Reuben. We had gone down I-5, we came back on I-15/I-60, a much better trip.
We left about 0930 for the trip home. We stopped at a local Chevron to fill up & got the car washed while we were there. We were on the road at 1010 with a very clean car. We arrived home at 1810. We stopped in Tulare at Apple Annie's to eat. We can stop there again. We filled up in Lodi. I could have made it home without stopping, although it would have been close & Betty was getting nervous.
A very good trip & lots of time to play with our Yniquez grand kids & visit with Joyce, George & Wendi.

el Tour of the Scenic East Bay

Yes, the Tour was scenic. And hilly. And fun. This ride is also called Bike Against the Odds, a fund raiser for The Breast Cancer Fund (www.breastcancerfund.org/). The ride is put on with the help of the Oakland Yellowjackets. They did a splendid job. I did the 52 mile route with 4000 feet of climbing. Lots of hills, great views. I was part of the Sacramento Rocket Riders team.

The Trip North

We were on the road about 0615 yesterday. The trip was pleasantly uneventful. Nice drive. Traffic was light most of the time away from large towns. A lot of road/bridge work going on in Oregon. We did get stuck waiting to get by two crashes in Oregon. They got us to our hotel about an hour later than planned. The good part is they only cost us a little time.

The Ford

Sunday Jason looked & listened to the Ford & said 'don't drive it until we fix it'. Oh, good. Monday we rented a Saturn VUE from Hertz so Betty wouldn't be stranded. Tuesday I bought the parts. What started out as routine parts buying from NAPA turned south. I ended up getting the parts from the local Ford dealer. We put on a new A/C clutch. We also put on a new belt while we were at it. Jason & I went to his job & re-charged the a/c system. His boss didn't charges us for the refrigerant, a very nice surprise. (Five Star Auto Repair, Five Star Blvd.-Jason is normally off Wednesday & Sunday.) It's really a blessing to have an auto tech in the family. Today I washed the Ford so we will have a clean car to get dirty on I-5.

Monday ride

I got away from the house just after 0630 headed for the club ride start at 5 Points. I did the regular route to get on the ARBT at Estates Drive. Heading down river I look for Paul, when I see him I know it's time to turn around & head to the ride start. I met up with him before Howe Ave today. The ride went to Beal's Point & back down across the river to Karen's. The sky was blue instead of smokey like it has been for weeks. Beautiful day.
Miles 63, ride time 4:04

Kids/Grand-kids

My out-of-town kids, & most of their kids, are coming to town for a week. Lots of activities have been planned, including a bike ride with Dad. Yes!! I was going to suggest it & thought there was no way the boys would agree. Then one of them suggested it. That will be a fun day. Included on the list of activities are bowling & kayaking, too. The grand-kids have enjoyed these in previous years. All of the kids/grand-kids will be here one night for dinner (my birthday). My sister Jeanne & Gwen will be here for a couple of days, arriving on my birthday for dinner. I'm anxious to see my sister.

Oregon Trip

We are planning a trip to Oregon City to visit family. One of my cousins has recently married his high school sweetheart & we are going to join the celebration. We are driving straight up & returning by way of the Oregon & California coast, spending a night in Crescent City. It should be a fun trip.